[Webinar] What is the role of civil society and communities towards a peaceful cyberspace?

The Geneva Internet Platform is pleased to invite you to the webinar, ‘What is the role of civil society and communities towards a peaceful cyberspace?’. This event is being organised within the framework of the Geneva Dialogue on Responsible Behaviour in Cyberspace, led by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), in co-operation with the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP), the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), ETH Zurich, and the University of Lausanne. This webinar is the second in a series within the project, and will reflect on what the role of civil society, academia and technical communities is in ensuring international peace and security through responsible behaviour in cyberspace.

While cyberspace and ICT can deliver significant benefits to society, the growing use of ICT by State and non-State actors for malicious purposes – threatening not only peace and security but also the entire digital society and economy – is of significant concern to the international community. Promoting the responsible behaviour of all actors is key to ensuring a peaceful, secure and stable cyberspace. To date, most efforts have focused predominantly on identifying norms of responsible State behaviour (for instance, the work of the UN Groups of Governmental Experts - GGE). These efforts have led to important results, even if greater awareness around the norms and their implementation is still required. There is also less clarity on the roles and responsibilities of other actors and how they, too, are contributing - or can contribute - to greater stability and security in cyberspace, as recommended in the GGE reports.

This webinar is the second in a series within the project, and will reflect on what the role of civil society, academia and technical communities is in ensuring international peace and security through responsible behaviour in cyberspace. In particular, the webinar will question what roles these stakeholders can play – and what responsibilities they should undertake – towards implementing the norms stipulated within the UN GGE Report of 2015, such as those related to the protection of critical infrastructure. The webinar will build on the first webinar in the series, ‘What is responsible behaviour in cyberspace?’.

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